Rowena's Wonderland
by secretfanficlover
Summary: I followed the young girl at the end of the street and found out a secret I could never share, because it wasn't mine to tell


Word Count: 731

Title: Rowena's Wonderland

Beta: White Eyebrow

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Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Ollivanders: Birch: Write about Rowena Ravenclaw.

Care of Magical Creatures: Kappa - write a mystery genre

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Hogwarts

Assignment 3: Magical Law and Government- Task 9 - Write about a dangerous secret

Yearly: Prompt 745 [Fandom] Alice in Wonderland

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The House Cup

House: Gryffindor

Class: Charms

Category: Drabble

Prompt: [First Line] There was something odd about the young (boy/girl) who lived in the last house on the street

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There was something odd about the young girl who lived in the last house on the street. Her name was Rowena Ravenclaw, and her parents never let her go outside and play with the other children in the neighborhood. I had often watched the house, waiting to see if she would appear.

I was sixteen, probably the same age as Rowena. I had almost given up on ever seeing the strange girl, until one day when I saw her sneaking out of her house.

I heard the back door click open, and she walked out. She was wearing a black hooded cloak, not a dress with a corset like any other girl our age. Her dress was inappropriate and plain.

When she started to run, I was worried that she had spotted me, but her genuine laughter, in fact, only betrayed her excitement.

She dropped her hood when she reached the fairground. Her eyes were focused on the dancing Gypsies. I saw her loose red hair hanging like tendrils around her round face. Given the manner of her excitement, it made me wonder if she had ever been to a parade like this before.

She walked through the vendors; the sight of money made her eyes glint in the full moonlight. It couldn't be that she was poor, for her house was large enough to hold ten people.

Past the vendors, she came upon a group of jugglers and paused—beguiled—this maiden on the cusp of womanhood smiled with the enthusiasm of a child.

I wondered if she was sickly; her skin did seem pale. However, she ran with the strength of a healthy young woman, and I struggled to keep up with her in my long dress.

I saw her eyes on the sign at the tent were they kept the exotic animals, paying for a brown bag of salted nuts at the door before going inside of the stadium. She sat down somewhere in the first row, her snack halfway to her mouth.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the man said, his voice echoing through the stadium. "Welcome to the fair!"

She failed to notice the nuts scattering to the floor; her eyes were captivated by the conductor and the show that enticed every sense she had. She didn't even realize that I sat down close enough that she would hear me sneeze.

She watched the elephants and rhinos and lions. My eyes focused intently on the girl in the front row. Although the gypsies weren't allowed, it wasn't uncommon to spot one in the town square. After the animals, she went back outside to watch the dancing gypsies once again.

They didn't seem to care for being arrested for their unholy behavior. I even saw one manage to get the golden bracelet with a golden ball off Rowena's arm, but that seemed to snap her out of her daze, and she confronted them. It seemed like the gypsy had it, but something seemed to shock the woman into dropping the bracelet onto the floor.

Rowena picked it up, unfazed by the attempted robbery; her bracelet also proved she wasn't poor. That wasn't a mere trinket; it was pure gold. She shocked the woman! Then a thought occurred to me. I was sure I had seen the little golden ball glow when the gypsy tried to grab it from her. What if...

I started to wonder if she might be a witch. It all made sense after all, her eyes seemed to glow, and her excitement with things that were _normal_ to everyone else. I then came to understand something I never had before. Her parents were frightened for her safety. If she was found to be a witch or a practitioner of dark magic she would be burned at the stake.

I watched her skipping home that night, following her until she reached her home. This would be a secret I needed to keep. Something about her didn't seem dangerous to me, and although witches were said to be evil, I saw no reason to raise suspicion.

This would be my little dangerous secret to keep, for if they were to determine that I had known, I would be just as guilty as her. Armed with this new information, I made my way home. I no longer doubted that Rowena was odd, but there was nothing I could do about it.


End file.
